(June 5, 2012) SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — I’m writing this diary entry in a cabin/house nestled on a wooded hill (up the road from a wigwam that serves as the home of an advant-garde composer and tree surgeon) on the shores of the Potomac River.
Pause.
Now that you’ve had a chance to let that sink in, let me just say that THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.
I started the day in State College, PA, where I made this little video:
Then I traveled by Greyhound from State College to Harrisburg PA. I knew it was coming, so I was able to take a photo of the Susquehanna Statue Of Liberty this time around:
Harrisburg’s snack shop has some very interesting framed art and quotations above the microwaves, including this:
And then I saw this, for which I can offer no explanation:
From Harrisburg I went to Baltimore MD. One of the cool things about bus travel is the diversity of the riders. For example, the woman pictured at left.
I sat behind the same two guys for most of the trip and eventually wrote a poem — “leaving York” — based on part of their conversation.
From Baltimore I went to Hagerstown, MD. I went in a van because Greyhound buses no longer go to Hagerstown. According to one of the drivers, Hagerstown actually passed legislation to keep Greyhound out because, in his words, “people acted the fool in Hagerstown.” I’m not sure if he meant the passengers or the elected officials. In any case, I think my van trip was not actually supposed to be covered by my Greyhound Discovery Pass, but it all worked out anyway and I didn’t have to pay the exorbitant fee that the van was charging.
I got into Hagerstown around 9 p.m. and was met by Sarah, wife of drummer Jeff Cosgrove. She took me to their home in Shepherdstown and immediately saved my life with a vegan pizza, salad and — WIN! — Virgil’s root beer.
Jeff and Sarah are amazing people. We had a great conversation before Jeff took me over to his friend Justin’s house, where I’m staying. Justin is a carpenter and adventurer and extremely welcoming.
Tomorrow I’m going to try to talk to the wigwam guy. I’m also going to interview Jeff and then do a poetry reading later in the day. Details about the reading are here.
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